No lessons learnt, Jalandhar residents welcome 2022 in style

Avneet Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 1

It seems people have learned no lesson from the Covid-19 second wave, which wreaked havoc all across the nation. Despite the continuous cautioning of the experts over the third wave, people have let down their guards against the fatal infection, which so far has claimed lakhs of lives.

On Saturday, India reported 1,431 Omicron cases, 2,775 new Covid cases and 406 deaths in the last 24 hours. Still, leniency on the part of authorities and the careless behaviour of people was evident on New Year’s eve, as they gathered in large numbers at restaurants, pubs and on roads to welcome 2022.

Even though danger of Omicron looms large, hundreds of people gathered at various locations to celebrate the New Year.

On a visit to different party spots, it was seen that no covid norms were being followed at any place. Forget about social distancing, residents were even not wearing masks. Also, many present at the parties were either not vaccinated or just had taken the single dose.

A few revellers at PPR Jalandhar, where the crowd was huge and almost everyone was grooving to the music on road, and they were also least bothered about the risk that the new variant poses.

“It’s the New Year’s eve. Since we have been confined to our homes for the last two years, now it’s time to celebrate,” said Arshvir Singh, a Class XII student, who was partying with his friends at PPR.

Not just this, at many places restaurants allowed entry to photojournalists on the condition that no pictures should be clicked.

“Omicron cases have not been reported in Jalandhar, so there’s nothing to worry about,” another resident Kamal Kumar said.

Situation no different at protest sites and political events “It is rightly said that in India rules are meant to be broken. Neither politicians nor common people, no one follows rules. If we point out to the protesting teachers, we should call out politicians, too, who are organising rallies one after the other,” said Sahil Verma, a resident.

Dist reports 34 fresh Covid cases

Jalandhar: The first day of the New Year brought district’s first Omicron case and an unprecedented Covid blast. On January 1, as many as 34 cases of Covid were reported in the district, taking the district tally to 63,680. As many as 62,069 persons have recovered from Covid in the district, while there are 110 active cases in the district. With no new death, the district toll remains at 1,501. Of the 18,99,200 samples collected in the district so far, 17,62,272 samples tested negative. The results of as many as 546 samples is still awaited.

Kapurthala reports 8 cases: Kapurthala district today reported eight cases of Covid on Saturday taking the district tally to 17,931. Meanwhile, no new death was reported. The toll remains at 556. TNS

What expert says

“We cannot predict the situation as of now, but Omicron cannot be taken lightly, as there is no guarantee that this virus will behave in the same manner in India like elsewhere,” said Dr Navjot Dahiya, national vice-president, Indian Medical Association. He said even though Omicron was milder than Delta variant and other earlier versions of the virus, in line with real-world data, if a person is affected with both Delta and Omicron at the same time, the condition may turn deadly. “Omicron is less infectious to the lungs, and instead was limited largely to the nose, throat, and windpipe, but it is necessary for people to follow guidelines and abide by Covid-appropriate behaviour,” he said.